Unwanted Feelings
by Luna Obsessed
Summary: Luna Lovegood and Draco Malfoy's relationship progresses slowly...
1. Chapter 1 The Crumply Snail

**Chapter One – The Crumply Snail**

Luna Lovegood sat in the quidditch stands, watching a figure in emerald green robes muck around on his broom.

"Da da! Look, Pansy, I caught the snitch! Draco Rules!" he cried out in triumph, spotting the girl in the stands and assuming it was somebody else. Luna stayed silent.

"Pansy, I know its Potty's day for the pitch and I told you to be quiet but I didn't mean THAT quiet!"

Silence still. The boy flew down to the ground, swung his broom on his shoulder and walked towards Luna.

"Loony!" he said in amazement. "What are you doing here?"

"Watching. Good catch." she replied calmly, ignoring his insult.

Draco Malfoy stared at her for a moment and leant his broom against a tree. Luna picked up the copy of 'The Quibbler' lying next to her and slid it into her bag, making room for Draco to sit next to her. He stared at the seat for a few seconds, as if considering something then sat down.

"So…hey…why are you watching me? What happened to following Potty around?"

Luna looked him in the eye. "Draco I can watch who I like."

The boy stuck out his bottom-lip and pulled a sour face.

"Well you distract me Loony, so shove off. Go crawling to Potty and Weasley, sure they would_ love_ to put on a show for you."

Luna raised her eyebrow.

"I wonder why I distract you, I was being very quiet. In fact you thought I was Pansy Parkinson, and she definitely doesn't distract you..."

Malfoy scowled.

"You shouldn't scowl your face will stay like that forever."

"I'm not four years old Loony." he scoffed.

Silence once more until Luna said,

"What's wrong with Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys? Why do you hate them?"

His expression changed, looking slightly hurt.

"What do you mean?" he asked in a strange tone.

"Pretending won't do you much good."

"You do it all the time!" Malfoy said and put on a high-pitched voice. "Oooh Harry it's a crumply snail! Daddy's going to Africa to find an orange monkey!"

Luna eyed him, showing dislike in her face.

"I don't pretend. I have faith, I believe. Anyway its Crumple Horned Snorkacks not snail and Daddy didn't go to Africa." She paused. "I don't talk in that squeaky voice either."

Malfoy rolled his eyes.

Luna stared at him, waiting for him to speak. He stared back, sighed and began to talk.

"Loony you're not going to understand. Granger is a mud-blood. My family do not associate with people like _that_. The Weasleys have no money and are an embarrassment to the wizarding world."

"And Harry?"

"Potter. Famous Harry Potter. You weren't at school in our first year. First he wouldn't accept my friendship and went off with Weasel instead. Then he just _had _to be Dumbledore's favourite, best at everything, higher grades than me, wins the house-cup, quidditch…"Malfoy shrugged. "Remind me why I'm talking to you?"

"I'm sorry, I never knew. I suppose it's hard to come second like that, but Harry can't help it…"she broke off as Malfoy let out a loud snort.

"Put yourself in my shoes then. 'Loony Lovegood' teased by the whole school. No friends, ignored by embarrassed professors. Thanks to cruel housemates, hardly any possessions left. Sleeps in the common room so she doesn't have to listen to the torments or wake up cursed. Nobody believes anything she says and won't even try. Her fathers job is bad-named and to top it all off the person she likes doesn't even know she exists." Luna said bitterly. "Its not easy you know."

Malfoy blushed, his pale face turned light pink.

"I suppose you don't get it easy either, but you do ask for it with your crumply snails and stuff!"

Luna raised her eyebrows and gave him a pitying look.

"So who's this person you like? I mean I think everyone knows you exist, you're kind of hard to miss." He said smirking as he observed her latest earrings, bright pink shells, dangling from her petite earlobes.

Luna smiled slightly. "He likes playing quidditch…"

"Potty!" Malfoy shrieked with delight.

"No, it's not Harry. He's quite tall and normally wears green…"

"Oooh...Crabbe...or Goyle! Or...ewww...you don't like Malcolm Baddock do you?"

"No!" Luna said quickly, in disgust. "You are silly…its _you_ Draco!"

"What! You…you like…me? Loony Lovegood likes ME?"

She nodded, smiling. Draco stared at her speechless.

"We may have our differences, but I think I know how you feel. We're in similar situations Draco."

Malfoy blinked. "Err I don't like you. I mean imagine would happen if we went out." He shuddered. "Think of my reputation!"

"There are some things more important than your reputation. Remember that." Luna said standing up. "Well goodbye Draco."

She walked away from him towards the castle, leaving Malfoy staring dumb-founded after her.


	2. Chapter 2 Dancing Melons

**Chapter Two – Dancing Melons**

Luna Lovegood sat in the library, her straggly hair flashing as the sun shone through the window. She smiled at the boy next to her.

"See if you put something about the warlock who had too many cherries then you should get at least an E!"

Harry's gaze was a bit more caught up with Luna rather than his essay but he scribbled something down.

"Err...Luna…thanks for helping with my essay and stuff while Hermione's in the hospital wing. It's really kind of you."

"Oh I don't mind, it's nice to be compared to Hermione."

Harry looked surprised.

"Oh well I don't agree with her opinions and she is very narrow-minded, but it's nice because she's one of your best friends. I don't think anybody has ever considered me as a best friend."

Harry looked uncomftable. Luna always said odd things like that when everything was going fine. If he had to pick a fault with Luna, then that would probably be it.

"Err…right well now we're done I think I'll have an early night." He said, just as Draco Malfoy walked in. Luna nodded understandingly, presuming Harry didn't want to be around Malfoy and began to put Harry's things in his bag for him.

Draco watched Luna and Harry jealously. What was Loony doing with Potty? Why was she putting _his_ things away? Malfoy glowered and sat down a few tables away to eavesdrop.

"So umm Luna would you like to come to Hogsmeade this weekend with me and Ron?"

She smiled. "Yes Harry, I'd like that."

Harry grinned, "Great, I'll meet you outside school on Saturday afternoon." He picked up his bag and left the library.

Malfoy got up and casually strutted (if it was possible to do both at the same time) over to Luna. He sat on the table. "You know…I need some help on an essay to," he said, surprising himself. Surely he wasn't _jealous_ of Loony Lovegood and Potter spending time together? But when he had seen them together, they _had_ looked happy.

Luna looked up. "Oh…hello Draco." She said dreamily, her melon shaped earrings swinging from her ears, dancing in the light.

"So what's up with you and Potter?"

Luna blinked. "Nothing we're friends. Hermione Granger is in the hospital wing because a house-elf bit her when she tried to give it galleons. So I'm helping Harry with his essays instead of her."

"Oh." He didn't look very happy about it. The table creaked with his weight.

"So did you say you wanted help with an essay?" Luna asked.

Malfoy got off the table and sat where Harry had been. "Yeah…" He rummaged in his bag and pulled out a piece of parchment and a fine eagle-feathered quill.

"Its for Snape…something about the properties of billywigs in potions and stuff…"

"Easy!" Luna said cheerfully. "Just put what I say – hang on."

She got up and went over to another part of the library, looking for billywigs books.

Malfoy fiddled with his quill. There was something about Loony after all. She was weird…or mad, yes that suited her better. Malfoy rather liked her new earrings, like watermelons, although her appearance was one matter. Then there were her beliefs in non-existent things like the crumply snail. Not to mention her low-opinion on the ministry and her fathers tatty magazine. But Luna was beautiful in her own odd way. She didn't ignore him. Infact she had even admitted to liking him. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all…

Before Malfoy had time to consider her anymore, she was back with a pile of blue covered books on billywigs and some potion or other.

"Here we go…now see this book? Well I'll read out the ingredients and you just write."

Malfoy nodded and poised his quill, ready to write.

Half an hour later they were done and a completed essay lay on the wooden table. Over all it had gone rather well, Malfoy was very pleased with his essay and Luna was happy because Malfoy had believed her when she told him about wrackspurts. Or so she thought – really he had just agreed with her so he didn't get roped into an argument about something that didn't exist.

"Thanks"

"That's ok. Well I'd better go, it's getting late and I need to get some things from my dorm before the other girls get there." Luna said standing up.

"Are you….sleeping in the common-room again?"

She nodded. Draco looked away uncomftably.

Luna stood up and turned to leave.

"Bye."

"No…Luna wait!" She turned to face him surprised.

"I…I…would you like to umm come to Hogsmeade with me?" He gabbled, blushing.

Luna's eyes went round.

"I'd love…" Her expression changed and the light in her eyes went out. "Sorry Draco, I already promised Harry."

"Sure. Fine. Whatever." He said, pretending he hadn't heard their conversation before.

"No, don't be like that." She paused then beamed. "We can all go together! Me, you, Ron and Harry."

"Tell me you're joking." Draco replied fearfully.

"No I'm not. Now come on, it'll be fun! You don't have to be ultra-friendly to them. Come on…for me?"

Malfoy sighed.

"Ok, ok you'd better go and tell them. See you Saturday."

He walked away quickly to put away the billywigs books and Luna left the library.

That week when Malfoy handed in his essay, he got an 'Outstanding' grade for the first time. The most Luna had ever received from Professor Snape was an Exceeds Expectations.


	3. Chapter 3 My Moods Better Than Yours

**Chapter Three – My Mood's Better Than Yours**

Luna sat on the wall outside Hogwarts, swinging her legs happily. Today's earrings – flower power in bright pink dangled down from her ears, clashing with her pale yellow jumper. She jumped up as Malfoy approached her, and beamed.

"Hello Draco"

He nodded and looked around.

"Right they aren't here, so we'll go without them." He said briskly. "Come on."

"You can go but I'm not leaving until I see Ron and Harry."

Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"What a _brilliant_ idea!" He said sarcastically, just as Harry came up to them, followed by Ron who looked like he would prefer to be in detention, than spend the day with Malfoy and Luna.

"Hi Luna!" Harry said enthusiastically. She smiled and began to speak, Malfoy watched the two of them jealously.

"Makes you sick." A disgusted voice commented. Malfoy swung around to see Ron looking at Harry and Luna gloomily.

"They aren't you know…a…thing?" Malfoy asked.

"No, but Harry likes her…" Ron clapped his hand over his mouth, wishing he hadn't spoken.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone. Wouldn't want them to know I was hanging around with you lot." Malfoy sneered.

Ron gave him a dis-believing look.

'Come on let's get a carriage." He muttered and strode off. Malfoy followed reluctantly and Harry and Luna soon joined them.

"He's hungry, give him this."

"What if he bites my finger?"

"Don't be silly, I feed them all the time, it will be fine."

"Ok well if you're sure..."

"You would have thought they would be fat enough by now." Malfoy said, glaring out of the carriage window.

So what if Luna and Harry could both see those dumb horse things? They didn't have to go on about it.

After Malfoy's words, there was an awkward silence amongst them. Only the carriage wheels going round and the endless chatter from other students could be heard.

Luna jumped down from the carriage and beamed at the others.

"So where shall we go first?" She asked.

"Honeydukes." Ron said quickly.

Harry rolled his eyes, teasingly but nodded. Luna looked at Malfoy.

"Fine, let's go."

They made their way to the shop and entered.

"Hey look there's Seamus, I need to ask him something. Back in a bit." Harry said, spotting Seamus Finngigan in the crowd of students. He went over to him, leaving the others by the door.

"So…Luna do you like cockroach clusters?" Ron asked staring at the ground uncomftably. Luna carefully noted his pink ears, as she replied,

"No, but wait here I want to get something…" Luna said, beaming as she 'skipped' off.

Apparently Malfoy had also seen Ron's ears…

"Don't tell me you like Loony too?" He asked in dis-belief.

"No!" Ron said, his face changing colour to match his ears. "I was just making conversation. You don't think I _want_ to be dragged to Hogsmeade with you and Loony? She's off her rocker, and by the looks of it Harry to, but he's my mate...I'm doing it for him."

Malfoy nodded slowly.

"Yeah…well…." He muttered and forced a smile as Luna hurried back, clutching a golden-wrapped slab of Honeydukes chocolate.

"Look!" She said, shoving it under their noses. "This is what the crumple horned snorckacks likes to eat. Me and Daddy are going to lure them out with it!"

"If you haven't found them yet, then how do you know the like it?" Ron asked bluntly.

"Didn't you read the latest _Quibbler_? We found the remains of a bar with the snorckacks teeth marks!"

"Oh please, can't you shut up about your crumply snails for one minute?"

Harry walked back over.

"What's going on?"

"Err Luna was just telling us about her...horned sand-snails…" Ron said.

"And Malfoy started being a prat." Luna finished for him. "Now let's go."

Bewildered, Harry shrugged and left the shop. The others followed.

"Can we go into Gladrags Wizarding Wear? I want to get some new earrings." Luna said, hovering outside the door.

"Sure" Harry said and they went in.

Luna went straight over to a stand, covered in funky earrings and began to browse, while Harry started looking at the quidditch robes. Malfoy and Ron sauntered off separately.

Luna fingered a pair of blue eagles delightedly, but caught sight of an even nicer pair of earrings. They were dark red coloured and in the shape of cherries. Luna immediately fell in love with them; she had been fond of the fruit all her life along with her mother, so they seemed like a good choice to her. She took them off the stand and went to pay.

Luna found Harry and Ron waiting for her outside. Ron was pulling a t-shirt over his head.

"Look what I've got! It's supposed to tell what mood you're in."

Luna and Harry looked at the plain white t-shirt. Slowly words began to appear, followed by a small picture of Ron looking confused.

"I'm excited but fed up. This wasn't my idea of a good weekend. Careful what you say to me." Luna read aloud and smiled. Harry laughed just as Malfoy came over to them, swinging a dark olive green bag in his hand. As they walked towards the Shrieking Shack, for no apparent reason Malfoy said,

"Guess what I've got, it's a…" He trailed off. "Weasley you're wearing my t-shirt !"

"No I'm not, I just bought it!"

Malfoy pulled a white t-shirt out of his bag and pulled it on over his robes, making him look rather stupid. Words began to appear, along with a picture of Malfoy smirking.

"Jealous and hatred tied in one. I'm having a bad day and I can be very touchy. Beware." Harry read and laughed again.

"Weasley how dare you buy the same shirt as me!"

"I got mine first!"

"Liar! Take it off. NOW!"

"I'm not going to do what you say!"

"NOW Weasley!"

"Why don't you take yours off? It looks ridiculous."

"What, you think yours doesn't?"

"My moods better than yours! Who are you jealous of anyway?"

"None of your business and actually my mood is better. Did you see the part on yours about how much of a DUNGBEETLE you are?"

Ron squinted down at his shirt for a moment then glared at Malfoy.

"You obviously haven't looked at yours then. It says I am a cruel heartless idiot and I love murdering people!"

"You are so pathetic Weasley! Isn't he pathetic Luna?"

Malfoy turned around to see a most horrific sight.

"Luna?" he said weakly, staring at the girl standing a little way away. Harry's hands lay on her shoulders; Luna's hair flew behind her in the breeze. Both were oblivious to Ron and Malfoy who were staring as Harry and Luna kissed.


	4. Chapter 4 Quibbler Code

**Chapter Four – Quibbler Code**

Luna stared at her glass of butterbeer dully. She preferred gillywater with onion but apparently The Three Broomsticks had a new policy, they wouldn't give onions unless you paid extra, and not having a spare sickle Luna had decided to go with butterbeer instead.

Ginny Weasley sat opposite her, looking very confused. Luna had reluctantly told her what had happened and was hoping to get some advice.

"So you're saying that you only kissed Harry to make Malfoy jealous?" Ginny asked, taking a sip of her butterbeer thoughtfully.

"No!" Luna said quickly. "I wouldn't do something like that and Harry's my friend…I think I _thought_ I liked him…but I like Malfoy…it's so complicated!"

"Ok…so you and Harry…tell me more!"

"Well it was really nice, we were just laughing at Ron and Malfoy then we started talking…"

"And?"

"Well then it just…happened. It was rather nice to be honest but it felt so wrong."

Ginny looked a bit ruffled, Luna guessed she was still fond of Harry even after their break-up but decided not to mention it.

"So do you have feelings for Harry?"

Luna stared at her glass for a moment then looked back at her friend.

"I like him as a friend, and I suppose he is rather scantuloom…"

"Scantuloom?"

"Attractive, quibbler code words, issue fifty-nine."

"Oh…" Ginny said deciding not to persist the matter any further.

"I just like Malfoy, I wasn't trying to make him jealous though." She paused. "Actually he did go a bit funny and his t-shirt…it said something about jealousy and hatred."

"I don't see why you like Malfoy, but that sounds positive, he could have been jealous of Harry. What are you going to do?"

"I was hoping you could give me some advice." Luna looked her friend in the eye. "Ginny, I've never been in a relationship like this before but I know you have been in quite a few."

Ginny looked rather pleased but slightly offended.

"You should talk to Malfoy and find out if he likes you, then if he does you'll have to tell Harry that you don't like him in that way…"

"And if he doesn't like me?"

"Well see how you feel, but if you don't like Harry it would be cruel to play with his feelings."

Luna nodded and drained her glass in one go.

"Thanks Ginny." She stood up. "Bye!"

Luna paused before leaving the Ravenclaw table, not sure whether she should go or not. Yes, Ginny was right, she needed to find out what Malfoy thought.

Luna stood up and walked over to the Slytherin table. She heard a familiar laugh and followed the noise.

"Hi Draco, we need to talk." She said breathlessly as he looked up at her.

"Luna, what are you doing here?" he hissed at her.

She opened her mouth to speak just as Cho Chang walked and put her hand on Malfoy's shoulder. She kissed him on the cheek and looked up at Luna.

"Draco, what is Loony Lovegood doing here?"

"I have no idea…" he muttered, his face turning bright red.

"Nothing, I was just going to ermm...nevermind." she said and ran from the great hall.

As Luna walked through the corridors, she thought hard.

Why was Malfoy with Cho Chang? She was a cruel, wimpy cry-baby according to Luna's observations. Lots of boys seemed to like her, even Harry had at one point…still she couldn't see why Malfoy liked her. Hadn't he asked Luna to Hogsmeade with him? Luna was the one he needed help from when it came to his school-work, yet it seemed like Cho Chang had replaced her.

"Luna? Are you ok?"

She didn't need to look up, the voice was familiar.

"I'm fine Harry."

"You look like you've been crying." He lifted his hand and brushed away a tear from her face. Their eyes met.

"Its nothing…just something this person said." Luna lied, her heart beating fast at the touch of Harry's hand.

"Who? If anyone's said anything to upset you I'll curse them!" Harry said, his eyes darting around the corridor furiously.

"No, nevermind it was silly…so how are you?"

Luna didn't listen as Harry began to talk about quidditch and how Hermione was. Maybe Harry wasn't so bad after all. If Malfoy could go out with Cho Change surely she could be with Harry. Someone who cared about her.

Harry's next words awoke Luna from her thoughts.

"Luna, would you like to ermm go for a walk tomorrow evening, by the lake?"

She paused, then smiled broadly as Draco and Cho walked past.

"I'd _love_ to go with you Harry." She said emphasizing the word 'love'.

"Great! I'll see you there around seven." Harry said looking pleased although rather puzzled.

As Malfoy disappeared from sight Luna was sure she saw a frown on his pale face.


	5. Chapter 5 Wisteriafish HouseElf Bites

**Chapter Five – Wisteriafish and House-Elf Bites**

Luna walked slowly towards the lake, feeling rather strange. She wasn't quite sure if she was doing the right thing. Of course she still liked Malfoy but if he liked Cho Chang then there was no hope for Luna.

Luna saw Harry sitting by the lake, looking from side to side in an eager manner and Luna knew she couldn't hide.

"Hello Harry."

"Oh, Luna hi!" Harry said standing up and messing his hair up as he ran a hand through it. Luna smiled. There was an awkward silence for a moment then Harry broke it.

"I umm…Luna I like you…"

"I know." Luna said serenely.

Harry looked a bit lost for words, he fidgeted then said,

"So umm how would you like to go out on a proper date?"

Draco Malfoy flew above the lake on his broomstick. He was determined to spy on Harry and Luna and it looked like he had found them. Smirking as he saw the two figures, he flew a bit lower until he was in a good position to eavesdrop on them.

"What about Madam Puddifoots?"

"No, I hate that place…it's all pink and girly. I can't imagine a boy enjoying themselves there. It's a bit crowded at weekends anyway…"

"Good because I hate it too…"

"Don't say that just to please me! I'll go if you like Harry…."

"No honestly, I went there with Cho once…" he stopped and Malfoy raised his eyebrow and lifted his hand to scratch his ear.

"Yes I heard Cho talking about it in the common-room."

There was an awkward silence between the two, until Harry leant over and kissed Luna.

Malfoy was so surprised that he fell off his broom. There was a loud splash as his body hit the water, and Luna jumped.

"Who's there? Harry I think someone fell into the lake!"

"I heard…come on." Harry said worriedly, and he took Luna's hand as they stood up.

"Lumos" Luna said and her wand in her other hand lit up.

"Good thinking…any sign of…anyone?"

She peered into the murky water and saw the flash of a green tail.

"Harry!"

He turned to look.

"Its probably one of the mer-people."

"Or it might be a wisteriafish!"

"Err yes Luna, it could be…" Harry lied as he raised his own newly lit wand.

"A broomstick!"

"Where?"

"There, someone must have been flying over the lake!" she replied, pointing to a broomstick in the water.

"Luna, stay here I'll go in and look for whoever's in there."

"No Harry, I'll go. I don't feel the cold that much…I often come for a swim in the lake at night."

Harry hesitated, "Well ok, I suppose it would be quicker…but I'm coming in if anything happens!"

Luna pulled off her Ravenclaw robes and jumped into the lake, in her normal clothes that she wore underneath her robes. At first the water was icy cold, but Luna soon got used to it as she swam over to the broomstick.

Luna grabbed hold of the broom handle and in the light of Harry's wand she managed to make out the silver lettering on the side.

"Property of Draco Malfoy." She read, "Harry its Malfoy, he's in the lake!"

Harry looked slightly relieved.

"Great…I mean umm have you seen the body yet?"

"No, I'm still looking."

Luna swam a bit further until she felt a cold hand on her shoulder.

"Luna…help me." a voice croaked in desperation. Luna quickly grabbed the hand and tugged the body after her as she swam back to Harry.

She dragged the body onto the wet grass and took a few long breaths.

"Is it him?"

Harry knelt down and raised his wand over the body. "Yeah it is Malfoy, lets get him to the hospital wing." He said, pocketing his wand.

Luna stood up shivering in her soaking wet clothes and picked up her robes.

Harry poked Malfoy.

"You ok?"

Not getting a reply, Harry lifted the body over his shoulder and headed to the hospital wing, closely followed by Luna.

A drop of water fell from Luna's straggly blonde locks, landing on the scrubbed hospital wing floor. She was sat in a chair next to Draco's bed, watching Harry pace up and down the room. Draco was sleeping and Madam Pomfrey was in the middle of making a potion for him.

Luna also noticed Hermione in the bed next to Draco's, watching interestedly.

"How's the bite?" Luna asked, trying to make conversation.

"Well house-elf bites do quite a lot of damage actually, that's why I'm still here. The bite marks are still visible on my hand and Madam Pomfrey said it might hurt for a long time. I read a book about it once..."

Luna stopped listening and stared at Malfoy worriedly.

Why had he been flying over the lake that particular night? Had he been _spying_ on them? She wouldn't have put it past Draco……

"Are you ok Luna? You should go and change, you're soaked!"

Luna looked up to see Harry leaning on the back of her chair.

"I'm fine, Harry we need to talk…"

Harry blinked. "If you say so…ok out here?"

He walked over to the door and held it open. Luna took one last look at Draco and followed Harry out of the hospital wing.

Luna glanced around the boring corridor and then said,

"Ok Harry, the thing is me and Malfoy…"

He looked at her expectantly. "Look I can't lie, and I'm not going to. I like Draco…Malfoy as you call him."

Harry's face fell.

"More than friends?"

"Well he likes Cho Chang but I can't be with you, knowing I like him, it isn't fair."

"You prefer Draco Malfoy to me?" Harry said and Luna could hear the anger in his voice.

"No…I...yes…I don't know! I like you as a friend Harry but I like Malfoy in a different way."

"Luna, I love you!"

"You'll live without me Harry. You'll be fine."

"Luna, why did you do it? I thought you liked me and now you're saying…"

"I didn't do it on purpose Harry. I can't change my heart however much I'd like to. At one point or another all feelings are unwanted. But Draco is ok once you get to know him. We've talked and I think…"

"Oh so it's Draco now is it? Well go and be with darling Draco because I don't want to be anywhere near you at the moment!" Harry yelled.

Luna stepped closer to him and took his hand in hers.

"Calm down Harry, it's not the end of the world. There are plenty of other girls who like you."

"But I don't want them!"

"Harry you're making this very difficult, now please stop."

He looked surprised.

"I still want to be friends…if you will?" she said hopefully.

Silence.

"Sorry Harry." Luna whispered in his ear. She kissed him on the cheek and went back into the hospital wing, leaving a devastated Harry behind.


	6. Chapter 6 Malfoy's Don't Joke

**Chapter Six – Malfoy's Don't Joke**

Draco Malfoy awoke to see Luna sleeping on a chair by his bed and Hermione Granger on his left, lying in her own bed and peering at him.

"Stop looking at me Granger!" he snapped, sitting up in his bed.

"Luna really likes you."

Draco stared at Hermione.

"Sure she does."

"She broke it off with Harry you know. And she's been watching you all night, she only just fell asleep."

"She…did?"

Hermione nodded.

"She likes you."

"Well I can't imagine why, I mean she's friends with Potter and you lot. You all hate me so why doesn't she?"

"I don't know Malfoy but she saved your life, so you'd better thank her!"

"She what?"

"Apparently you were flying over the lake and fell in, then Luna jumped in and saved you."

"Wow…that was…nice of her."

"Its not just Luna being nice, its another sign that she likes you!"

"I've known she likes me for quite awhile Granger."

"So why are you going out with Cho? I know Luna's weird and she believes in all those silly made-up creatures…and ok she does dress strangely but she is a good person underneath!"

"Well, well Granger! Sticking up for Loony Lovegood?"

"Shut up Malfoy! If you're too thick to realize who Luna really is then I have to point it out for you."

"Why this sudden change of heart?"

"About Luna? Well Harry likes her and I respect his choices…and once you get to know her…"

"Wait, let me get this right. You _respect_ Potter's choices? You like him don't you?"

"No…I…oh be quiet Malfoy!"

He was about to throw back a nasty insult when Luna moved in her sleep. Draco turned to watch. He would have imagined Luna sleeping peacefully, like a good baby but he was wrong. Luna was curled up on her chair in a strange manner. Her straggly wet hair hung over her face, dripping onto her already wet clothes. Her hands were clenched up in fists and Malfoy felt a strange sense of guilt as he watched her. Luna's eyes flickered open and she slowly sat up properly.

"Draco! You're awake! Are you ok? Was I asleep long?" she asked, her face full of worry.

"I'm fine, its you we should be worrying about. You're soaked and hardly had any sleep." Malfoy said gruffly, feeling rather embarrassed.

Luna stared at him for a moment, and then she jumped up and hugged him.

"Oh you do care! I knew you would, Hermione didn't agree but I thought...oh Draco!" Luna cried happily.

Malfoy looked very surprised and not knowing what to do, he patted her on the back. She withdrew and her happy face lost its gleam.

"You…do care…?" she said slowly.

Malfoy sighed and looked down at his clean white bed-sheets.

Yeah umm I like…mm…Cho...umm" he muttered.

"Pardon?"

He looked up again.

"Luna, the reason I was flying over the lake was to spy on you and Potter."

Luna stared at him.

"Because…because I was jealous ok! I do like you, however weird you are and however much I don't want these feelings they are here."

Luna beamed, "I think that's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me."

Malfoy looked surprised and distracted himself by straightening his bed-sheets.

"One thing though…why are you going out with Cho Chang if you like me?" she asked.

"I thought it might upset Potter. They went out a few years ago…besides you were with him so even if I had admitted that I liked you then, I didn't think you'd choose me over Potter."

"So you don't really like Cho?"

"Well she is one of the…" he stopped, seeing Luna's face. "No. It's you I want, Luna.

"You're not making fun of me?"

"No Luna." He took her hand. "I'm a Malfoy. We don't joke about things like this."

Luna raised her eyebrow and smiled.

"Ok…"

"Now I command you to get out of those wet things and go to bed!" he said teasingly.

Luna grinned.

"Good-night Draco."

He slid of the bed with ease.

"First I would like to ask you something."

Luna's brow creased slightly.

"Yes…?"

"Would you do the honour of attending the Christmas Ball with me?" Malfoy asked, watching her expression with care.

Luna stared at him in shock for a moment before saying, in a slightly disappointed tone,

"Draco that's very kind of you, but I know you don't want to embarrass yourself being seen with me in front of the whole school, so I'm going to have to say no."

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to go with you. Please Luna?"

She hesitated, "Well if you're sure...then I would be delighted."

He grinned, "Good-night."

She smiled and left the hospital wing.

"Well-done."

Malfoy jumped, to see Hermione in the bed next to him, smiling. He had forgotten she was there.

"I didn't think…especially when you said you already knew she liked you…but you do like her. Luna must be so happy."

Malfoy smirked.

"And asking her to the ball, that was very nice of you! I'm glad you don't mind about people seeing you two together."

"Oh I do…just most people will be at home for the Christmas holidays, so hardly anybody will know." Malfoy said, grinning.

"Cruel." Hermione commented, as he lay down in his bed.


	7. Chapter 7 Eaten Alive

**Chapter Seven – Eaten Alive**

Harry wandered down the third floor corridor, heading to the charms classroom. Before he had time to dodge into an empty broom cupboard, Luna approached him, looking rather nervous.

"Hello Harry." She said, fixing her misty eyes upon him.

"What do you want?" Harry asked rather rudely as he averted his eyes to the floor, noticing Luna's long stripey socks, one pulled up and the other slipping down.

Luna looked slightly relieved.

"Oh good, you're talking to me, that Ron Weasley is ignoring me. I'm used to it but it was nice thinking I had some friends." She said, speaking the truth as normal.

"Look Luna, I'm not exactly happy about what you did, but I'm not going to ignore you and I'll tell Ron not to either."

"Tell me what?" a voice said from behind. Harry turned to see Ron standing behind him.

"Hello Ronald." Luna said. Ron ignored her.

"Harry, why are you talking to Loony?"

Harry looked at Luna quickly. She looked rather upset, but he found that he didn't really care. It would be good to see Luna suffer after what she had done to him.

"Err I'm not, I was just heading to charms, coming?"

Ron nodded and set off down the corridor, Harry followed. When they reached the turning Harry looked behind him.

Luna stood where they had left her, staring at them miserably. As Harry turned around again, he thought he saw a tear fall from her eye and had a sudden urge to run and comfort her.

"Come on mate!" Ron called and Harry quickly ran after him.

Draco sat leaning against an old oak tree in the Hogwarts grounds, waiting for Luna to join him. Soon enough, a small figure with long hair walked over to him and slowly knelt down on the grass beside him. Draco smiled at her, but she did not return the smile, just pulled up her left sock, which had been slipping down. Draco stared at the bright colours for a moment, and then looked up again to catch Luna hastily wiping away a tear.

"Luna, what's wrong?"

She sniffed, "I'm fine, it nothing…ermm how are you? Are you still taking that potion Madam Pomfrey gave you?"

"Yeah I am, but why have you been crying?"

"I haven't! Did you take it today?"

"Luna, tell me now!"

Neither of them spoke until Luna broke the silence with her troubles.

"Its just Harry and Ron…they are ignoring me. It's so stupid, the whole school laughs and talks about me behind my back, but I couldn't bare them doing it!"

Draco put his arm around her and said, "Don't worry, the Slytherins will be your friends when they find out about us."

"Draco, I don't _want_ you bullying people to be nice to me! I just wish Harry would be more understanding about all this…"

"What about Weasel's little sister and Granger? And Longbottom?"

"Ginny and Hermione are fine and Neville said hello, but I think he's avoiding me. Actually I think he's always been a bit scared of me."

Secretly, Draco thought Neville was wise to be scared of Luna, although he didn't say so.

"Well I'm sure they will be fine soon, it was a bit hard with me and Cho at first, but she's gone back to staring at me every now and then and giggling in her gang."

"You and Cho? Compared to me and Harry? You and Cho barely knew each other; Harry was one of my only friends!" Luna said rather hysterically.

Draco thought she sounded a bit like Hermione, maybe the two were rubbing off on each other, although he hadn't seen Hermione wearing strange earrings or carrying _The Quibbler_.

"Sorry." He said in a 'I'm doing nothing wrong' tone and stood up.

"Look Luna I need to go and do something, see you later." He said and quickly headed towards the castle, leaving a miserable Luna by herself.

Luna Lovegood sat in the quidditch stands, watching the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. She was wearing her large Gryffindor lion hat, which was roaring loudly and starting to give her an ear-ache. Even though she liked Draco and Harry was ignoring her, she was still supporting Gryffindor.

A loud rather high voice rang out over the stands, which Luna recognized as Colin Creevey. A strange Gryffindor boy in her year, who kept trying to hang around with her and Ginny, for some reason un-known to Luna.

"And the cute Gryffindor chaser, Ginny Weasley takes the quaffle!"

Luna peered through her omnioculars and saw Ginny, bright red in the face to match her quidditch robes and heading towards the goal posts. Moving her position she could see Harry hovering at the left side of the pitch, whilst Ron was furiously defending his own goal-posts.

Luna put the omnioculars down. She didn't really want to watch Harry or Ron at that point. Gloomily she continued to listen to Colin's commentary.

"If I had my camera with me then I would take at least thirty shots of our stunning Miss Weasley…"

"Creevey stop that now, we don't want to hear about Miss Weasley we want to hear about the match!" Professor McGonagall snapped, and her voice echoed over the pitch, as the microphone picked up the sound.

"Oh, ok sorry Professor! Umm you lot, look at the score-board for the score…and look Ginny's brother just made a good save!"

Suddenly, Luna's roaring lion hat began to bite her head, ripping out her dirty-blonde hair and continuing to roar loudly.

"My hat!"

"Look, Loony Lovegood's being attacked!"

"AHHH there's a lion on Loony's head!"

"HELP! Quick, Professor Loony's being eaten alive!"

As hundreds of shrieks and shouts erupted around the pitch, Harry and Malfoy noticed what was going on at the same time. Both completely forgetting the snitch, they sped towards Luna. Harry grabbed the hat off her head, whilst Malfoy thrust his wand in the air, pointed it at the hat and yelled,

"Glacéite" (freezing charm)

The hat fell from Harry's hand and the roaring stopped. Harry and Malfoy grabbed one of Luna's arms each and dragged her off to the hospital wing. Ron and Ginny raced after them, also forgetting the match.

"And suddenly four players have deserted the game! Loony Lovegood was attacked by her own hat, so my good friend Harry Potter has gone to her rescue, followed by Malfoy from Slytherin – I wonder what he's doing – and the lovely Ginny Weasley. Oh, and her brother just followed her. This leaves the game in a strange position and our Slytherin chasers are making good use of the Gryffindor keeper's absence. Actually I know Loony; she's a friend of Ginny's. Odd taste if you ask me…Loony's a bit crazy and I really despise her weird clothing – she was wearing broomstick earrings today, incase you're interested – but of course when she hangs around with Ginny I can't hate her!"

"Creevey would you be quiet! Time out!" McGonagall yelled, looking very frustrated.

Meanwhile, in the hospital wing, the missing quidditch players stood around Luna's bed. At this point Luna was rather bald and covered in scratches.

Madam Pomfrey towered over the bed with a gloomy expression on her face.

"Dear, dear however did this happen?"

They explained, each taking turns to tell the tale while Madam Pomfrey bustled around making a potion of some sort.

"Right Miss Weasley, make her drink this and Mr. Weasley please go and fetch the offending object. Let Madam Hooch know you won't be back to finish the game." She said and after handing Ginny a goblet, turned to Harry and Malfoy.

"Mr. Potter please inform Professor Sprout that we will need some more beerag flowers and Mr. Malfoy…Mr.Malfoy what are you doing here?"

"Err...I...umm...we're friends…me and Luna."

"Don't be ridiculous, I know you better than that! Now out! Shoo!"

Malfoy began to protest, but found himself lying on the cold corridor floor outside the hospital wing.

Harry and Ron disappeared to do their 'jobs' and Ginny was left to awake Luna and give her the potion.

"Luna?" she tapped her friend on the nose, and Luna's eyes flickered open.

"Oh hello Ginny. Why am I in here?" she asked, looking around the room weakly.

"Ermm your lion hat attacked you. Anyway I think Professor Flitwick will be able to find out how it happened but right now you need to drink this and get your hair back."

"My what? My hat! My hair!" Luna's hand reached up to touch her head. "Oh Ginny! Is it all gone? Is it all gone, or is there some left?"

"A bit left…Harry managed to get the hat off you and Malfoy froze it…"

Luna looked bewildered but pulled a loose hair from her head and placed it on the bedside table.

"Just incase…now you'd better tell me everything." Luna said, "I think the potion grows your hair back. Here." Ginny handed her the silver goblet and after Luna had drunken, she began to explain everything.

Ron and Harry came back a bit later, when Luna was asleep again, and according to Professor Flitwick, someone had meddled with Luna's hat during the match.

However the hat definitely hadn't left Luna's head until Harry pulled it off, so Flitwick assumed somebody within the crowd had shot a spell at it.

"Who would do such a thing?" Madam Pomfrey asked in horror, as she attended Luna's scratches.

Professor Flitwick shrugged his tiny shoulders. "It's hard to say, but possibly someone who isn't very fond of Miss Lovegood."

"Well it could have been anyone then, not many people are exactly friends with her." Ron muttered and when he received a kick from Harry, decided to keep quiet.

Ginny yawned lazily. "Well some of her house-mates hide her stuff and tease her, maybe it was one of them?"

Flitwick shook his head. "No this is more than that...I'm sure it wasn't one of that lot, its just too cruel."

Ron stood up. "Right, well I'm going to err…go…got some…homework to finish. Coming Harry?"

"No I'll stay here, I want to talk to Luna when she wakes up."

Ginny nodded, "I'll go, so you can be on your own with her."

They left together, leaving Harry, Flitwick and Madam Pomfrey – who was now talking to Hermione, in the hospital wing,

Flitwick said something about the hat, and hurried away, although Harry couldn't really hear his squeaky voice. As the hospital wing door shut behind the Professor, Luna awoke.

"Harry! You saved me…you're here…" she looked up at him, and her misty eyes clouded over.

"Don't Luna. I do care about you, and I want to stay friends. I'm sorry about the other day, I was really angry." Harry replied.

"Oh good…thank-you…what about Ronald and Neville?"

"They will be fine, they were just ignoring you because they thought it would help me or something."

She smiled and looked around. "Harry, where is Draco?"

"Ermm Madam Pomfrey threw him out. I think she thought he was just here to make fun of you."

"Oh dear..." she said and stared at a clock on the wall worriedly.

"Well Flitwick thinks someone put a spell on your hat during the match, but they don't know who did it yet."

"I hope it was a mistake, I mean the person who did it wasn't being very nice, but I'd feel awful…whoever did it would get in trouble because of me, you see."

"Luna, it's their fault, not yours, so don't feel bad. Do you want me to get Malfoy for you?"

"Yes please…if you wouldn't mind."

Harry smiled at her and left. Hermione walked over and sat at the end of Luna's bed/

"Hello Luna, how are you?"

"Oh, I think I'll be ok once my hair's back…how's the bite?"

Hermione rubbed her hand, "Healed now, more or less. Madam Pomfrey just dis-charged me."

"Great…"

"So you've sorted everything out with Harry and Malfoy?"

"Yes just about…well Harry just went to fetch Draco actually."

"Well I hope it goes ok, I'd better go, I've got LOADS of homework to catch up on…I couldn't write with my hand before, or I would have done it in bed."

"Ok bye…thanks for…well…" Luna shrugged.

"Oh Luna…be careful. Malfoy is going to be a bit embarrassed about you and him at first and it might take him a while to be honest." With that, Hermione got up and left just as Malfoy came in. Luna looked puzzled for a moment, trying to work out what he meant but then Malfoy came and sat on her bed.

"Luna! How are you?"

"I'm fine now thanks. Well my face hurts a bit…" she said, rubbing a scratch on her cheek.

Madam Pomfrey bustled over again. "Mr. Malfoy what do you think you're doing? I told you to get out, now shoo!"

She turned and went to make Hermione's bed.

"Draco, just tell her that I'm your girlfriend!" Luna said, staring at him in confusement. He muttered something which she couldn't hear.

"People are going to find out soon enough, with the ball coming up, so why hide it?"

"Yeah, yeah I know…" he mumbled into his robes then looked up.

"But you won't be able to go to the ball anymore, with your…injuries." He said, with what seemed to Luna, like a cross between an eager and a pleased tone.

"Actually I can go. Madam Pomfrey said she's making a final potion for my hair and the scratches can be transfigured away, so I should be able to leave tonight and the ball isn't till Sunday."

"Oh, ok fine."

"What? You sound like you don't _want_ me to come!"

"Yeah I do, or I wouldn't have asked you."

"Ok, then you're going to have to stop hiding it from people. Go and tell Madam Pomfrey!"

"I will later, got to go…ermm quidditch practice!" Malfoy lied and he quickly left the room before Luna could protest.

Luna sighed and flomped her head down on the pillow as Madam Pomfrey came over with a goblet.

"Drink this and your hair will be fine dear!" she said, smiling and walked away muttering something about 'traditional Weasley hair'. Puzzled, Luna drank the potion.


	8. Chapter 8 Stolen Hair

**Chapter Eight – Stolen Hair**

Luna stood in the out-of-order girls bathroom, waiting for Hermione and Ginny. She had been let out of the hospital wing that evening, when Madam Pomfrey had proclaimed that her 'Weasley' hair was back to normal. Luna was still trying to work out what she had meant by that.

A childish ghost figure zoomed out of a toilet and cackled madly.

"Loony's a red head! Ginger nut! Carrot hair!" Moaning Myrtle shrieked with delight.

Luna turned to face her and said, "Hello Moony."

"Don't call me that!"

"Loony…Moony…go well together don't they?"

Myrtle scowled. "Why did you dye your hair? You look like one of the Weasleys."

Luna gave the ghost a strange look and spun around to view herself in one of the cracked old mirrors. She opened her mouth in shock and put a hand up to touch her new red hair. It was the same length, down to her waist and still straggly, but the colour had changed.

"Goldfish! Loony is a goldfish!"

Luna shut her mouth as Hermione and Ginny walked in.

"Wow what did you do to your hair?"

"You're hair! Luna! You…Hermione her hair! It's the same as mine!"

Moaning Myrtle stuck out her bottom lip sulkily. "Weasley, Loony and the mud-blood all at once. Perfect!" She flew back down her toilet and Luna ran her fingers through her red hair.

"I don't know what happened, maybe Madam Pomfrey got the potion wrong."

"She stole my hair!"

"Shut up Ginny! I don't think Madam Pomfrey would make a mistake."

Suddenly, something in Luna's brain clicked. "She thinks I'm a Weasley! That's why she said those things…! So she did a red-hair potion or something…"

"Has Malfoy seen it yet?

"Who cares about Malfoy? She can't copy my hair!"

Ignoring Ginny, Luna replied, "He last saw me this morning, why?"

"Because…oh this is going to be great!" Hermione said and Luna thought that this was probably the first time she had seen Hermione so excited.

"Ginny, show her the dress!"

"But…"

"You got them without me! I thought we were going together?" Luna said, looking and feeling hurt.

"I know, but we thought you might…umm have a different taste to us, and umm it was a surprise."

"So you chose my dress for me?"

"Well…yes…but…"

"Hermione how could you? Ginny!"

"Oh don't, its really…Ginny show her the dress!" Hermione repeated, frustratedly.

Rolling her eyes, Ginny pulled a parcel wrapped in tissue paper from a posh purple bag. She handed it to Luna, who carefully un-wrapped it.

A beautiful dark red ball-gown fell out. Hermione squeaked in delight as Luna un-folded the material and gazed at it. In Luna's eyes it was a rather plain yet pretty dress, though with some accessories it could be brightened up. However, anyone else would see it as a stunning dress. An eye-catcher, a wonderful colour, and a great design including a four-layered skirt.

"Well…thanks." Luna started, not really knowing what to say. "Its lovely, but I would have preferred to choose one myself."

"I knew we should have let her come!" Ginny said to Hermione.

"No its fine, Luna it will look great with your new hair!"

"Umm I'm going to get my 'old' hair back."

"No! You have to keep it red for the ball! You can get it put back afterwards."

"But I…"

"It will be a surprise for Malfoy!"

"Well ok then, but I'm…"

"Ermm Luna, you can't steal my hair!" Ginny said, looking at her own red mop in a mirror.

"Ginny, I didn't steal your hair, but if you like you can borrow my old hair to make it fair, Madam Pomfrey could make a new potion…"

"I don't _want_ your horrid old hair, I want mine!" Ginny clapped her hand over mouth, but it was too late. "I'm sorry! Luna! I didn't mean that!"

"Oh so I 'stole' your hair, I wasn't invited to pick my _own_ dress, my old hair is horrible and lets be even more truthful, you hate Draco, you think I'm a weirdo and you'd much rather be with someone else right now. Well I'm used to it, so you can take your dress and your friendship away. Nobody's forcing you to like me. Harry's not going to hate you if you're mean to me, so just go! Both of you!" Luna said, throwing the dress aside as tears formed in her eyes and slowly fell down her face.

Hermione and Ginny looked shocked. Neither of them had ever seen Luna like that before. Hermione took a step forwards, "Luna, we like you. You're our friend. Nobody is making us, we want to. I'm sorry about the dress but I thought you'd like it…"

"I'm sorry too. I was over-reacting, you can jeep your hair like that forever if you just forgive us." Ginny pleaded, looking truly sorry.

Luna leant against a sink and stared at the floor, not knowing what to say as her tears continued to fall, silently.

"Look, Luna you know you're a bit different from most people…" Hermione started. Luna moved her head in a nod.

"Well we were trying to help you by getting the dress without you. I thought you might choose something…well in your normal style. I think Mal- I mean Draco will really like this dress." Hermione said, picking up the dress. "Oh, and I got some earrings for you too." She pulled a small navy box from her robes and offered it to Luna, who took it and opened it. Two tiny silver spiral earrings lay on the velvet inside. Luna handed the box back.

"Sorry Hermione, but they aren't my 'style'. Anyway I've already found the perfect earrings."

Hermione took it the wrong way and anxiously said, "Luna don't! Take them, please and forget all this."

"No, I really do have some others. Its kind of you, but why don't you wear them instead?"

"Well nobody's invited me actually…and I don't have my ears pierced."

Ginny, who had been rather quiet, spoke up," She got a dress anyway though. So did I, well a few people have asked me but I'm not sure who to go with yet…"

Hermione nudged Ginny.

"Oh and I really am sorry Luna. The hair thing…I just…people like my hair, I suppose I thought they might prefer you or something, I was being selfish…and your hair isn't horrid, I was just feeling bad."

"You're an idiot Ginny." Hermione said, deciding not to mention that she doubted anyone would prefer Luna to Ginny, whether they had the same hair or not. Luna looked up, "I'm sorry too, I know you're my friends and it's a lovely dress thank-you. And I know my normal hair isn't exactly the nicest thing to hit the earth, but I like it and even though Ginny's hair is really nice, I would never keep it. Daddy would hate it if he saw it now, because it's like Mummy's. Sort of a memory to both of us I think…" she said and looked up at the ceiling for a minute. Ginny and Hermione looked lost for words until Ginny grinned.

"Group hug?"

Smiling, they hugged.

"Ooh I know, try your dress on Luna!" said Hermione, handing it to her. Luna went into one of the cubicles to change and came back a minute or so later wearing the dress.

"Wow, you look beautiful Luna!"

"Yeah it looks great! My hair looks good too!" Ginny said approvingly.

Luna looked at herself in the mirror, ran into the cubicle and came out again in her robes.

She handed it to Hermione. "I can't wear it."

Ginny and Hermione exchanged puzzled looks.

"Why?" Ginny asked bluntly.

"It's too beautiful. I don't suit it. I'll just get my old hair back and wear these silver robes I have of Mummy's." Luna replied.

"No, you're wearing that dress Luna Lovegood and you're going to look beautiful." Hermione said firmly.

"I don't want to. I love it and it's really kind of you, but I…"

"Didn't you hear her? You're wearing it Luna, so stop blabbering!" Ginny said. "Right, now that's settled, did you know Hermione likes Harry?"

"Ginny!"

Luna looked surprised, "You do? Well…maybe you should ask him to the ball?"

"No I think he might ask me as a last resort. I don't want to show my feelings yet."

Ginny looked at her watch. "I've got Quidditch practice in ten minutes, so we'll talk later, or tomorrow when we get ready for the ball together.

Hermione nodded, "Yes I need to finish some homework." She handed Luna back the dress and left calling, "Bye!" as she did. Ginny followed, leaving Luna alone in the bathroom. She fingered the red material carefully for a moment, before slipping it back into its purple bag. Of course she would need to alter it before tomorrow and maybe make a new necklace, so Luna too left, but not before gazing at her long straggly red hair in the mirror, and wondering if it was possible for it to ever look like Ginny's bright, healthy hair. Maybe, after all Hermione and a wand could work magic.


	9. Chapter 9 Jealous of Loony Lovegood

**Chapter Nine – Jealous of Loony Lovegood**

Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table, waiting for pudding to appear, rather boredly listening to Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown's conversation, as Harry and Ron had already left.

"Did you know it was Ginny Weasley who put the spell on Loony's lion?" Lavender said loudly. Hermione tilted her head slightly so she could hear better.

"No it wasn't! It was Romilda Vane, but Ginny's idea!" Parvati said, her eyes shining in excitement.

A passing sixth year smirked and said, "Well actually it was Pansy Parkinson, I overheard her telling Millicent Bullstrode in the common-room."

Hermione looked up.

"She did it because Draco Malfoy likes Loony, and she's jealous."

"Wow!" Parvati replied, looking awestruck.

"Merlin's beard, Draco Malfoy likes _Loony_ Lovegood?"

"Yeah, and Harry Potter." the slytherin girl replied, taking a seat next to Parvati.

"What!" both girls cried at once and Lavender looked on the verge of tears.

"Then Loony had to choose, and she chose Malfoy."

"Loony is _way_ past crazy." Lavender stated, shaking her head. The girl nodded as the table began to fill with ice cream and cakes.

"Better get going, see you around!" she said to Parvati and Lavender, then headed for the Slytherin table.

Hermione decided to miss out on pudding that night, and she quickly hurried after the girl.

"Excuse me, but what's your name?" she asked.

"Alison Millervine" and before the girl had time to ask why, Hermione had vanished.

Luna and Ginny entered the room of requirement together; they had been wandering around the castle, trying to find somewhere to get ready for the ball in. The bathrooms were already crowded with girls and as they were in separate houses, dormitories would have been no good.

Luna looked around the room contentedly. There was about everything they could need in this room, from the dressing tables and wardrobes to the hair curlers and jewelry. Luna lay a purple bag down on a velvet chair as Ginny carelessly threw herself onto a three-seater sofa.

"This is great! We just need Hermione…" Ginny said happily.

"I come in here quite often actually. After the DA stopped it kept appearing for me…the door I mean. I wasn't trying to; it just came. Maybe I needed it…" Luna pondered. Ginny looked a bit confused and didn't say anything, until a large eagle owl flew through the open window and landed on the sofa arm.

"Luna there's an owl," she said, stating the obvious, and Luna who had been lost in thought, blinked and then smiled.

"He's come because he's required. We can use him to send a message to Hermione."

"Oooh good thinking!" Ginny replied and pulling a piece of parchment and quill from her bag, she began to write.

About ten minutes after the owl had left, Hermione rushed into the room, carrying her school bag, although it wasn't filled with her books.

"Hello, I got your owl, but you'll never guess what, I know who put the spell on Luna's hat!" she gabbled breathlessly, flinging herself onto one of the velvet chairs.

"Who?" Ginny asked, leaning forward rather excitedly. Luna twisted her lip. She didn't really want to find out which of her classmates had tried to kill her. It would be very hard to continue smiling and saying hello to that person, like nothing had happened. She began to get into her dress, whilst listening to Hermione.

"It was Pansy Parkinson!"

"What?" Ginny said, her eyes bulging.

Luna sat down on the edge of one of the chairs. "Why would she do that? I've never even spoken to her! Maybe that's why…next time I'll say hello to her, although I can't see why she'd want me to talk to her…some of the things she said to me are quite awful!" she said, looking worried.

"What horrid things has she said to you?" Ginny demanded, looking out-raged.

"It's not because of that Luna! It's because she's jealous!" Hermione said exasperatedly.

"Jealous of what? My hat? Or my earrings...my necklace? I could make her one!" Luna said, her round eyes fixed on Hermione.

"No Luna! She doesn't want your possessions! She's jealous because Malfoy likes you instead of her, she's always been his girlfriend and now he's deserted her because of you, see?"

Luna looked even more worried, "It's my fault! Poor Pansy! How could he do that to her?"

Ginny gave her a strange look, "Luna, she tried to kill you!"

"Yes, but she had a good reason…I need to go and find her, I'll try not to be too long."

"It's nothing to do with you, it's Malfoy!" Hermione said, frowning.

Luna muttered something and rushed out of the room, half-ready, with her new red hair flying down her shoulders.

"Well I have to say, she _is_ a bit mad sometimes…" Hermione said, sighing.

"Yes, but she has a good heart." Ginny replied quietly.

Luna tracked down Pansy in the girl's bathroom, gossiping with a few other Slytherins as they got ready for the ball.

"Hello Pansy." Luna said calmly. The pug-faced girl spun around.

"Oooh look its Loony! What are you doing here; surely you're ready? Nice dress!" Pansy mocked, looking Luna up and down. In Luna's hurry to find Pansy before the ball, the dress had become rather ripped, not to mention the bubblegum stains from her encounter with Peeves in the corridor. Luna eyed her for a moment.

"I'd like to talk to you for a minute, if that's ok…in private."

Pansy gave her friends a disgusted look; "Well it must be important if smelly Loony came into a _bathroom_ looking for me!"

Her friends snickered, and Pansy walked proudly out of the room into the corridor, followed by Luna.

"Well what do you want Lovegood, unlike _some_ people I take pride in my appearance." Pansy snapped, looking at Luna as if she was dirt.

"Pansy, I know it was you that put the spell on my hat." Luna said quietly. Pansy's eyes narrowed.

"_What_ did you say Loony?"

"Pansy I know. Please don't pretend. I'm really sorry."

The slytherin girl looked surprised, "Sorry…for what?"

"Draco. It must have been horrid for you, I didn't know Pansy. I didn't realize you two were together or I never would have got into this."

Pansy suddenly burst into tears, "It's not fair!" she wailed.

"Don't worry, I'll sort it out and you can have him back." Luna said kindly.

"No…" Pansy sniffed and wiped her eyes. "It's me Luna. He doesn't like me, I was just there as a distraction. It's always been other people he liked, I've heard the other girls talking…I was just pretending it was all ok. It never was, he's happy with you."

Luna's round eyes expressed her sorrow for Pansy and she slid a small plaited bracelet off her wrist and offered it to the other girl. Pansy took it, but looked confused.

"Err?"

"Keep it. Remember I'm always here if you want to talk." Luna said quietly. Pansy nodded.

"You'd better go and get ready…and Luna…I am sorry, for the hat and everything."

Luna smiled reassuringly, "Its fine Pansy."

She turned and left the corridor. Pansy slipped the friendship bracelet on under her robe sleeve and went back into the bathroom, feeling better and not quite as guilty.

Luna re-entered the room of requirement to see Hermione and Ginny, almost ready and putting the final touches to their out-fits.

"What did you do to her?" Ginny asked immediately.

"Nothing, she's ok…we both apologized."

"What? Luna, you didn't have anything to apologize for!"

Hermione coughed, "Ginny just drop it for now." She then bent down a little and whispered in Ginny's ear; "Don't worry. I'll take care of it…"

Ginny smiled, and luckily for them Luna hadn't heard, as she was now occupied with getting ready for the ball in a short space of time.

Ginny rushed over to help with Luna's ruined dress, whipping out her wand whilst Hermione began to do her friends hair. Luna took a small lime green box out of the purple bag and took her two cherry earrings out of the box. She carefully slipped them into her ears.

"Oooh they are nice!" Ginny said kindly, although she personally preferred Hermione's spirals.

"Wow, Luna you look amazing!"

"Thank-you." Luna said smiling, despite the pain of Hermione brushing her messy hair.

A while later the three girls emerged from the room, each looking wonderful as they chattered about whether Harry asking Hermione to the ball meant that he liked her, and whether Ginny and Colin Creevey were a good match. None of them knew what events would happen later that night, but all were looking forward to it.


	10. Chapter 10 Click!

**A/N:** _Beware, this is a long chapter and it's the last one! I'm sorry if Cho seems a bit out of character to some people, but I despise her and can't help writing her like I do. Anyway I would like to thank a few people, for various things as this is the last chapter:_

_Lily – you don't know how good it is to have someone that I can constantly blabber to about my fanfic, even though you haven't read it properly yet. _

_Tashi – every time I come on and see one of your reviews, I smile. I'm really glad you like this fanfic and it's really good to know that I can make you laugh._

_The rest of my reviewers – thank-you for reviewing this story, it's great to know that I'm not just a hopeless writer and there are some people out there who actually do want to read this._

_Polly – You were the first person to read this, even before I typed it up, and you encouraged me to continue it. Thanks for giving me your opinion and ideas (I credit you for Neville's slippers, amongst a few other things)_

_Diana – Thank-you for beta-reading my fanfiction, I am glad you have enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of this last chapter._

_My beloved book and pens – I really owe all this writing to my blue-lined exercise book and my many blue biro's. They did the writing and those pens are very inspirational. My margin's have also been very helpful, it's good to jot down ideas for chapter names and future plots, random doodles and cries for what to write, not to mention scribbles when I'm trying to make a pen work. _

_This has become much too long, but I hope you enjoy the last chapter. I'd really like to get reviews for it and find out what you think of the end. Maybe I'll do a sequel if people like it, let me know what you think on that idea. Oh and be sure to check my profile in the future, a story from Ron's point of view is coming very soon (don't worry, Luna is a main character) and possibly a oneshot with Padma and Luna._

**Chapter Ten – Click!**

Luna slowly walked into the great-hall, now decorated accordingly for the Christmas ball. Mistletoe was hung over all the doorways and a big archway in the middle of the room also held a large bunch. Luna wasn't quite sure why there was an archway in the middle of the room, and decided not to bother herself with that for the time being. Small paper-chains in seasonal colours, faeries and a large Christmas tree also decorated the room.

Hearing footsteps behind her, and a cough that sounded like, 'Get out of my way Loony', Luna stepped forward a few paces. Padma Patil and Terry Boot stepped around her, followed by Neville and Susan Bones, whom Luna recognized from the D.A. Smiling at them all absent-mindedly, Luna looked around for Draco. She couldn't see him though, so walked over to the drinks table instead.

"Hello Ronald." she said, finding herself standing next to Ron. He jumped and spilt a bit of his butterbeer down his tatty maroon robes.

"Err…hi," he muttered, blushing. Luna assumed it was because they hadn't talked since the incident in the corridor.

"So who are you with?" Luna asked conversationally, looking around for his companion.

"Orla Quirke…she's in your house…just getting us drinks." Ron mumbled, looking at his feet shamefully.

"Orla Quirke?" Luna said, looking horrified. "Ronald, you might not want to hear this, but it's probably best if you do…"

"What? Is she a vampire or I know, that horned sandsnail thing lives in her hair, does it?" Ron said sarcastically, his previous feelings of guilt gone.

Luna blushed faintly and replied calmly, "No Ronald, but I do know that it's Harry she likes, not you."

"Ha ha, very funny. Why don't you go and see Malfoy, I'm fed up with your stupid ideas, but he'll gladly agree, I'm sure." Ron said, glaring at her.

"I know it's hard. Coming second all the time, at school and home…but you're a good person, and there are some who like _that_ person, rather than the hero. Orla Quirke isn't one of them however, so go and find somebody who does like you, for your own good." Luna said, and Ron stared at her gormlessly.

"H…how do you know?" he asked plainly.

"I see things other people don't. I have lots of time to observe, especially watching the people I care about."

"You…"

"No Ronald, I'm not one of those people, but I am your friend." Luna said, cutting him off.

Ron, who had started to look scared, recovered slightly and put his hand on her shoulder. "Right. Friends…and look, Luna I'm really sorry…"

She smiled, "I was waiting for that, you were quite cruel really, but then who isn't? It's all forgiven and forgotten now, don't worry."

Ron held up his butterbeer meanlessly, "How did you know about Orla?"

"I hear a lot of things in the Ravenclaw tower. Just remember Ronald, people rarely notice I'm there." Her eyes averted to the butterbeer bottle in his hand, and without another word she departed from the table.

Luna headed over to where Ginny was standing with Colin Creevey.

"Hi Ginny, Colin!" she said smiling at them. "Ginny you look truly wonderful in that dress!" she exclaimed, at Ginny's golden dress, next to Colin's Gryffindor coloured robes.

Ginny grinned, "Thanks, you look great too. Look, mum gave this to me!" she said fingering a gold chain around her neck. At the end was a delicate gold witches hat charm.

"Beautiful…" Luna said softly, although if it was her necklace she would have preferred a crumple horned snorckacks or a thestral.

Colin grinned enthusiastically and said, "Just going to get some photos of my lovely Ginny and her friend…then some of the other couples. Did you know, I'm going to be the photographer of the Hogwarts yearbook!" he stepped backwards and after getting a few shots of the girls, began wandering around the room with is precious camera.

"He's not _that_ bad actually, and he is kind of cute…" Ginny started, but was interrupted by practically the whole school bursting into laughter. Luna turned around and saw Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas standing at the entrance, wearing Gryffindor quidditch robes – which was causing the laughter. A few of the younger Gryffindor's rose Dean and Seamus onto their shoulders and began carrying them round the hall, chanting something which Luna never understood, because at that moment there were two loud screams. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil strode towards the boys, looking hilariously angry. The young boys immediately dropped Dean and Seamus, and quickly hurried away.

"How could you? You're heartless pigs!" Lavender shrieked, jabbing her fingers at each of them in turn.

"You ruined my Christmas!" wailed Parvati.

"What did we do?" Dean asked boldly, although he looked confused.

The two girls rolled their eyes and glared at Dean.

"You wore _Quidditch _robes to the Christmas ball! Dumbo's!" Lavender shouted. Parvati nodded, "Yeah and you don't even play Quidditch!"

At this point Luna noticed Harry standing with Hermione – who looked happy – and Ron. After a low conversation, Harry and Ron went over to Seamus, Dean, Parvati and Lavender.

"Just because we're not on the team doesn't mean we don't play Quidditch!" Seamus protested.

"Oh yeah, then where did you get the Gryffindor robes?" asked Harry, trying to hide a grin.

Ron nodded, and pulled a serious face. "That looks like _my_ robe you're wearing Dean…"

Lavender and Parvati looked shocked.

"You _stole_ their Quidditch robes?" Lavender said, her eyes bulging. Dean and Seamus blushed and looked down at the floor.

"We only borrowed them for a laugh, you don't need to go mad!" Dean mumbled.

"And now we're accused of being mad? Come on Lav, let's go and find some _sensible_ boys." Parvati said, tossing her dark hair. She picked up the skirt of her pink dress and walked away, closely followed by Lavender. Luna noticed that Parvati was wearing a matching dress to her sister, Padma although the latter was wearing orange. Her gaze was caught up on the tiny embroidery on the hem, so she wasn't aware of the conversation going on around her until she turned back to find Harry staring at her. He quickly turned away and Luna turned to Ginny.

"Ermm have you spoken to Hermione yet?" she asked, worried that Hermione wasn't paying her very much attention.

"She's fine, Harry complimented her dress or something…" Ginny replied as Colin came back over to them.

"I got lots of good pics of Seamus and Dean! There's a really good one of Lavender and Parvati shouting too!" Colin said eagerly.

"Colin, you haven't seen Drac – Malfoy anywhere have you?" Luna asked, starting to worry that he wasn't going to appear.

"Nope, none of the Slytherins are here yet…" he replied whilst fiddling with the back of his camera. "Hey Gin, do you think we'll be able to sell some of these?"

"Ok thanks, well I'll talk to you later!" Luna said brightly to both of them, although she wasn't in a very happy mood, as she was worrying about Draco, Harry and Hermione.

Luna turned around and started to head back towards the drinks table, when a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Yeah, well I know you're just after my best mate! I do have inside sources you know! Now shove off, Orla, because I definitely don't want to be used like that." Ron yelled at Orla Quirke, who looking quite terrified backed away, and hid amongst a crowd of girls.

Angrily, Ron turned around and bumped into Padma Patil, who was red in the face from crying.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Ron asked in a completely different tone.

"Terry Boot…I just found out that it was him who stole my birthday cake in the third year, and then he asked me to the ball! How could he do that?" Padma wailed miserably, shooting a positively horrid look at Terry Boot, who was already dancing with Orla Quirke.

Ron looked at Padma for a moment. "Well I know we didn't get off to a good start…at the last ball and stuff, but if you want to dance…?" he asked, fidgeting uncomftably and Luna saw Hermione shaking her head from the other side of the room, and smiling bemusedly at Ron's tactics.

Padma replied, but Luna couldn't here what she said. At any rate a few minutes later the two were dancing, despite Ron's habit of treading on Padma's toes. Luna could also see Neville dancing with Susan Bones, and to her amusement she saw that Neville had forgotten to take off his pink bunny slippers, which seemed to be getting in the way of the two dancing. Rather a good addition to his outfit, Luna thought and if she hadn't known him for being so forgetful she would have thought he had worn them on purpose.

Suddenly there were two horrid squeaks, echoing in the hall as Crabbe and Goyle entered the room, standing either side of the doors and blowing into trumpets – the cause of the ear-splitting noise.

Malfoy strode into the hall, followed by nearly all the Slytherin students. Luna smiled at this grand entrance and gazed at him happily. He was wearing long black robes with a silver outline and a carefully detailed snake at the bottom left. She also spotted Pansy in the crowd behind him, looking very happy with a boy Luna knew as Blaise. Pansy's long-sleeved dress-robes covered her wrists, so Luna couldn't tell whether she was wearing the friendship bracelet or not. Her eyes lingered on the dark green material for a moment, before flicking over to Blaise, who was wearing lime green robes, which Luna thought were rather nice, although Cornelious Fudge – that 'stuck-up' man – would have suited them better. Luna couldn't remember how many times she had complimented the man's lime green bowler hat at various interviews and meetings of her fathers. Mr. Lovegood had told her not to, but Luna found it amusing as she knew and shared her father's low opinion of Fudge and the ministry, even now he no longer possessed the job as minister of magic. It was something that made her father smile, and although Luna knew one day Fudge would get tired of it and take action, it was worth it just to see him frown and twirl the hat round in his hand.

A cold hand tapped Luna on the shoulder and she turned around.

"Weasel, where's Luna?" Malfoy asked, surveying her as though she was a man-eating hippogriff, which ought to be locked up. "Hang on…_Luna_?" Malfoy said, looking astonished. Luna nodded and he ran his fingers through her shiny red hair.

"What did you do to it? You look like a Weasley!" Malfoy said accusingly.

A look of dismay appeared on Luna's face, but Malfoy quickly took her hand. "Don't worry, we'll get it back to normal later, it does look good with your dress. You look beautiful actually," he said, smiling as he viewed Luna properly. She _did_ look beautiful, her normal straggly hair was a bright shiny bob, even if she looked like Ginny Weasley and her two strange earrings in the form of cherries dangled from her ears, but Malfoy rather liked her odd touches. Luna's dress wasn't really 'Luna-ish' but it looked great, even with Luna's necklace of dried pasta and her jingly metallic bangles.

Luna smiled vaguely as she felt Harry's eyes on her again, she turned around and their eyes met for a moment until Malfoy said,

"What are you looking at?"

"Err the decorations. Very nice, aren't they?"

"Luna, you're not very good at lying." Malfoy said irritably and he turned to see where she had been looking. He glared at Harry. "Potter, who do you think you are, a Slytherin?" Malfoy scoffed.

Luna looked confused, until she realized he was talking about Harry's green dress robes. She tugged on Malfoy's arm.

"Leave him, Draco."

"Well he'd better stop looking at you then, surely the Boy Who Lived has the ability to keep his eyes off beautiful girls!" Malfoy muttered sarcastically. Luna blushed and changed the subject,

"Draco, why were you so cruel to Pansy?"

"What?" he replied, looking bewildered.

"I know you left her, and treated her like a dirty Snorkack."

He stared at her for a moment,

"Dirty snail…no…Snorkack…" he muttered to himself and then said bashfully, "I'm sorry for whatever it is I did to Pansy, but Blaise had his eye on her for ages, it's a good thing really!"

Luna frowned, "She was heartbroken, Draco!"

"So you're saying I should have stayed with Pansy, even though I liked you? Because you might want to remember you did the same thing to Potter, and broke his heart, it's not just me!" Malfoy replied, starting to get angry.

Luna stared at the elegant ball floor for a moment, and realized what she had done.

"Draco…I…don't know what to do! I'm horrid! Poor Harry, what in Diagon Alley's name am I supposed to do?" she said desperately.

Malfoy sighed, "Luna if you're going back to Potter, please warn me now."

Luna looked into his eyes. She saw a miserable boy, trying to hide his feelings by faking anger and using sarcasm. She could tell that Draco loved her, and his intentions were good, he simply did not realize what he had done wrong, but Luna was hopeful that she could change that eventually. His eyes reflected how he felt about her, and the little shine that was there comforted Luna.

Her gaze turned to Harry. They had been friends for a few years now and she admired him. But when Luna looked into his eyes, she did not see the same hopeful love like Draco's did. Harry's eyes showed love, but in more of a friendly way. What Luna saw was a schoolboy crush, not love. Contentedly she looked back at Malfoy.

"Draco, I'm not going to leave you. Harry likes me now, but he'll get over it soon." Luna replied firmly and she squeezed his hand. She did not get a reply, but followed his gaze to where Cho Chang and Roger Davies faces were plastered together. She looked away uncomfortably and noticed Harry too was watching. Maybe she had made a mistake. Perhaps Draco had liked Cho all along?

"Draco, you don't still like her, do you?"

"Huh?" he said, distractedly.

"Cho Chang, do you still like her?"

Malfoy tore himself away from the couple kissing, and looked at her.

"Luna, it's _you_ that I like, what else shall I do to prove it?"

She smiled, and helped herself to a gillywater, glad that Cho wasn't the main feature of everyone's love interests.

At the other side of the room, a strange scene caught Luna's attention. Hermione was talking to Pansy and although Luna couldn't hear what they said, she saw Hermione hand Pansy the pair of spiral earrings, which had been given to her the previous night. Luna watched as Hermione skipped back to Harry, and Pansy began to fix the earrings to her earlobes.

Suddenly words began to appear on Pansy's face, which when completed read, 'Beware or you'll lose all your hair'. Luna opened her mouth in horror as Millicent Bullstrode pointed this out to Pansy, in a tiny hand-mirror.

"Ahhhh! Loony and Granger have RUINED me!" Pansy screamed and wincing, Luna hurried over to her, dragging Malfoy behind.

"Pansy! Your face…Hermione!" Luna called, and Hermione ran over, looking rather pleased with herself.

"Loony how dare you do this to me! Come crawling all nice then you send old mud-blood with those earrings and play this cruel trick on me!" Pansy yelled at Luna, and Blaise patted his girlfriend on the back. Luna saw Hermione flinching at the use of 'mud-blood' and hesitated. Cho Chang and Roger Davies joined the group and Cho looked at Pansy pityingly.

"I'm _so_ sorry Pansy…Granger did this to my friend Marietta once before…" Cho said and glared at Hermione. "Think it's clever do you Granger? Well, learn a new spell, this one isn't funny anymore!"

"No, you don't understand Pansy!" Luna looked at her pleadingly and whispered to Hermione, "Hermione, why did you do that?"

"I thought you were being way too soft on her, someone needed to teach pug-face a lesson." Hermione whispered back and turned to Pansy. "Don't blame Luna, it was me – she didn't know anything about it."

"Err why the '_compliments of Luna Lovegood_' then?" Pansy asked, glowering still.

Hermione blushed and looked shameful, "It was just a joke…and I'm sorry."

Pansy narrowed her eyes and Luna said,

"Please take the spell off now Hermione."

"Oh she just has to take off the earrings, quite simple really, I put a charm on them that…"

"Save it for someone who actually cares, Granger." Cho said spitefully and Luna wondered how anyone could like her, especially Harry and Draco.

Pansy hurriedly took off the earrings and threw them at Hermione's feet. She stormed away with Blaise on her arm, followed by Cho and Roger.

"Well thank-you." Luna said to Hermione, rather glumly.

"For what? I thought you were mad with me!"

"Well I suppose it wasn't very nice of you to say the compliments of Luna thing and what you did to Pansy was horrid, but…" seeing the look on Hermione's crestfallen face, Luna continued, "But you did it for me and you told her how to get rid of it…"

Hermione smiled weakly and said, "Don't worry, next time I'll think before I act." she uttered a small chuckle. "I sound like a book!"

Luna nodded slowly, fixing her protuberant eyes upon Hermione.

"You are like a book. You can be read in many different ways, and each is like a page…or sometimes a whole chapter." she smiled. "Everyone's like a book really, I think that's how I see people. Each person I meet is a new story…most last forever or have sad endings, but every person is different just like every book or story is, and even the sad ones are interesting."

Malfoy, who had been rather quiet, and Hermione stared at her.

"That's a…well interesting way of putting it." Hermione said timidly. Luna shrugged and turned to Malfoy. After a moment of her eyes staring at him unblinkingly, he asked,

"Luna, would you like to dance?"

Luna finally blinked, and although she wasn't fond of dancing nodded.

"I would like that." she said and took his hand as he led her onto the dance-floor.

After the dance, Malfoy and Luna mingled amongst the crowd for a bit, and watched a hilarious scene take place with Seamus and Dean complaining that if they weren't allowed to wear their quidditch robes, Neville wasn't allowed to wear his bunny slippers. Ignoring Susan Bone's protests, they dragged Neville away and locked him in a broom cupboard, out of pure humor and possibly the fact that they had drunken too much butterbeer. Eventually, a hot and bothered Susan let him out.

There were a few comments about Finnigan and Thomas being the 'New Weasley Twins', which annoyed Ron who burst into a shouting match with Ernie Macmillan, about how nobody could ever be as brilliant, stupid or ambitious as Fred and George. Eventually he retreated blushing heavily, when Ginny remarked how like their mother he was.

Harry approached them and Luna looked around for Hermione, but she was busy calming Neville down.

"I was wondering if I could have this dance Luna? If that's ok with you of course?" he said humbly, looking at Malfoy for approval. Luna smiled at the politeness of it all.

Malfoy hesitated but nodded, "Fine." he muttered in a very strange tone.

"You were right." Harry stated mysteriously as they danced.

"About what?"

"I can live without you and there are other girls that like me."

"Yes…"

"Hermione. It was so obvious when I asked her to the ball, her eyes lit up and she was overly enthusiastic."

Luna stayed silent.

"I don't like her in that way, but I might be able to teach myself how. She's a wonderful girl..." he paused and looked into her eyes sadly. "She's just not you, Luna."

"Harry you don't like me in that way either. _That's_ what you've got to teach yourself."

"You _do_ know me well." Harry said sarcastically.

"Yes I do actually, and I also know that me and you aren't meant to be. Harry please move on, you're wasting time. The Dark Lord is still out there and you need to love those people that need you, and the ones that you need yourself. Tomorrow Hermione could be gone. You wouldn't want that as a regret Harry."

Slowly Harry nodded, "Hermione…I'd be…" he blinked a few times then asked, "But what if one of those people I need is you, Luna?"

"Then I'll be there, as a friend. I'll always be willing to help you, Harry."

Harry looked at her for a moment as the dance came to an end. "I know. Thanks." He said simply. "I need to talk to Hermione now." he let go of her hand and went to find Hermione.

Another hand held Luna's.

"Now this is my dance." she heard Malfoy whisper in her ear, as a slow song began to play. Eventually they reached the curious archway in the middle of the room.

Malfoy led Luna up the steps and said obviously,

"Mistletoe."

"Quick…get away! Mistletoe is nearly always infested with nargles, surely you know that Draco!" Luna said, looking upwards worriedly.

"What in my father's name are nargles?" Malfoy asked incredulously.

"Nargles are these horrid creatures, they give you narglenectious and bite your mouth until it bleeds. They are well disguised to look like part of mistletoe though, so…"

Malfoy lifted his hands to her face, and moved her head to face him.

"Who cares about nargles? Kiss me you fool!" he said exasperatedly. His unwanted feelings had finally gone; no longer did he care what people thought of him or how weird Luna was.

Luna looked at him for a moment, then the mistletoe. A smile spread on her face and she leaned forward. He kissed her and there was silence throughout the hall, apart from the click of Colin Creevey's camera.

Finally Draco Malfoy had been honest and shown his feelings. That was what mattered, and that night Luna Lovegood slept well for the first time in ages. She had proven Draco to be not so bad after all, and that was an achievement, even if she was the only one to see it.

**The End**


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